Habs back on top of NHL Power Rankings

Getting Carey Price back returns the Habs to top spot, though it would have been a little easier if they weren't losing RW Brendan Gallagher, who has 19 points, and better than 56% possession, in 22 games. 

Key Injuries: RW Brendan Gallagher (hand), D Alexei Emelin (lower body).

The Stars are 11-2 in their past 13 games, with the only blemishes coming via unsightly losses to the Maple Leafs. The Stars launched 82 shots on goal in those two games, but still, those were rare power outages for the high-tempo offence.

Key Injuries: D Jason Demers (lower body).

The Blueshirts have been leaning on G Henrik Lundqvist a lot -- and he's been amazing, posting a .943 save percentage -- but LW Rick Nash is starting to wake up a bit, with 10 points in the past eight games.

Key Injuries: None.

The Blues are getting healthier, as C Paul Stastny is set to return, and with one regulation win in the past six, St. Louis is ready for an offensive shot in the arm.

Key Injuries: LW Patrik Berglund (shoulder), LW Jaden Schwartz (ankle).

A tough weekend, taking a pair of 4-0 losses at Minnesota and Columbus, while getting outshot by a cumulative total of 62-45. Following an impressive rookie season, LW Filip Forsberg is mired in a slump -- 15 games without a goal and five points in the past 13 games.

Key Injuries: None.

Tuned in the Avalanche on Saturday night, in a clear mismatch, and the Capitals have been so good even though they haven't seen a lot of progress from young forwards Andre Burakovsky and Tom Wilson.

Key Injuries: D Brooks Orpik (lower body).

If there's one thing I'd be worried about, that isn't mentioned all that often, it is that C Anze Kopitar's shots-per-game crashed to 1.70 last season, and it's down to 1.65 per game this season. He scored two goals Sunday at Carolina, but the shot rate has to improve -- he ranks 249th out of 254 forwards that have played at least 200 5-on-5 minutes when it comes to shots/60.

Key Injuries: LW Dwight King (foot), D Matt Greene (upper body).

D Ryan Suter, who scored two goals in 77 games last season, has three goals and 16 assists in 19 games this year, a serious jump in production, even as the Wild have cut his ice time by a couple of shifts per game, down to a mere 27:39 per game.

Key Injuries: LW Zach Parise (knee), D Marco Scandella (lower body).

Goaltending continues to be a concern for the Bruins, but their power play -- with five PP goals each to Patrice Bergeron and Loui Eriksson -- has helped them survive their goals-against woes. 

Key Injuries: RW David Pastrnak (foot).

The Blackhawks are apparently willing to listen on offers for D Trevor Daley, who has no goals in 21 games after scoring 16 in 68 games for Dallas last season. Weird that a defenceman wouldn't keep shooting over 14%.

Key Injuries: None.

He is but one 37-year-old man and has a modest two points in six games, but since C Pavel Datsyuk has returned to the Detroit lineup, they have 53.3% score-adjusted possession while Datsyuk is, typically, controlling 58.0% of play at even strength.

Key Injuries: LW Johan Franzen (concussion), D Kyle Quincey (ankle).

One regulation loss in the past nine games, and back-to-back shutout wins to finish the week...but 29th-ranked possession stats are an area of concern.

Key Injuries: LW Clarke MacArthur (concussion), D Patrick Wiercioch (upper body).

Six straight wins, all on the road, adds some life to the Sharks' season. There's a bit of a revolving door at the bottom of the forward depth chart, but stability on defence and goals from Joe Pavelski, Joel Ward and Patrick Marleau up front makes the Sharks competitive.

Key Injuries: LW Raffi Torres (suspension), C Logan Couture (fibula).

The Penguins have been fortunate to this point, outplayed generally, but covered by G Marc-Andre Fleury. At some point, though, the big-ticket players are going to have to start carrying play, and producing points, because putting this much on the goaltender is not how championship teams are built.

Key Injuries: D Olli Maatta (upper body)..

The Devils have done all right patching together their forward group, but it could be better still. Jacob Josefson, Jiri Tlusty, Jordin Tootoo, Stephen Gionta, Sergey Kalinin and Brian O'Neill -- who averaged between 10 and 16 minutes per game -- have combined for one even-strength goal. 

Key Injuries: LW Ryane Clowe (concussion), LW Patrik Elias (knee).

Injuries continue to ding the Lighting lineup, especially up front, where they have plugged Joel Vermin and Jonathan Marchessault into the lineup. That's not quite Palat and Johnson.

Key Injuries: LW Ondrej Palat (lower body), C Tyler Johnson (undisclosed).

Getting back-to-back games against the Habs is no treat, and the Isles lost both as they now try to deal with D Travis Hamonic's trade request, which has gone public.

Key Injuries: D Thomas Hickey (lower body).

Emerged from a six-game winless slide with back-to-back wins, and lost G Ondrej Pavelec to injury. That might not be the worst thing in the world, and it could be interesting to see if top prospect G Connor Hellebuyck is interested. 

Key Injuries: G Ondrej Pavelec (knee).

Rookie Max Domi and Anthony Duclair lead the way with eight and seven goals, respectively, but the Coyotes have some depth to their attack. Mikkel Boedker and Shane Doan each have six and Tobias Rieder has five, while Martin Hanzal leads the team with 18 points in 18 games.

Key Injuries: G Mike Smith (lower body).

Two regulation wins in the past 11 games shows that it's been a grind and, thankfully, the Panthers have been getting strong goaltending from Roberto Luongo to keep them afloat.

Key Injuries: D Dmitry Kulikov (knee).

The Sedins put on a show Saturday night, in a win over Chicago, but it was the Canucks' only win in the past six games.

Key Injuries: D Ben Hutton (lower body), C Brandon Sutter (abdominal).

Winless in four, while scoring just four goals, the Sabres are undoubtedly more competitive, and have welcomed LW Evander Kane and D Zach Bogosian back to the lineup, but they're not quite over the hump yet.

Key Injuries: G Robin Lehner (ankle), C Zemgus Girgensosn (upper body).

Sunday's win over Los Angeles was the Hurricanes' first regulation win of the month, but they also have two regulation losses in the past seven. A little more finish and they could be interesting, but when's that happening? (Looking at you, Staals and Skinner.)

Key Injuries: D James Wisniewski (knee).

The Blue Jackets are 6-4 in the past 10 games, though that's not a result of dramatically better play at even strength They're a little better there, but special teams have improved and G Sergei Bobrovsky is coming around (.936 SV% in November) after a horrible start to the season (.865 SV% in October).

Key Injuries: D Fedor Tyutin (nose), C Brandon Dubinsky (elbow), C Alexander Wennberg (lower body).

The Leafs are more competitive -- with two regulation losses in the past nine games -- but how much of that is on the back of G James Reimer? He's playing as well as he ever has and a goalie stopping 93.6% of the shots he faces can make up for a lot of team shortcomings.

Key Injuries: None.

The Ducks have picked up their possession game , though it's coming as G Frederik Andersen is crashing back to league average after a strong start to the year. One step forward, two steps back for a team that has won two of the past seven games.

Key Injuries: D Simon Despres (upper body), LW Jiri Sekac (lower body).

The Flyers have one regulation win in the past 16 games, and are now the lowest-scoring team in the league. For all their flaws, they should be able to score better than they have to this point in the season.

Key Injuries: D Mark Streit (pubic bone), LW R.J. Umberger (lower body).

G Karri Ramo is playing better, and the Flames have won three of four. Impressively, they allowed a total of 39 shots against in back-to-back wins against New Jersey and Chicago.

Key Injuries: LW Lance Bouma (fibula), G Jonas Hiller (lower body).

It appears that the Oilers are giving Anders Nilsson more time in net than was planned when they dealt for Cam Talbot but, sadly, Nilsson's .901 SV% is earning him more action.

Key Injuries: D Justin Schultz (undisclosed), C Connor McDavid (clavicle).

The bubble burst on Reto Berra, and the good news for the Avalanche is that Semyon Varlamov is ready to resume his starter's role in net.

Key Injuries: LW Alex Tanguay (knee).